FTSE gains 11 points

Christmas Day used to be the only time of year when no one could buy anything.

Not any more.

This year 8 million people are expected to be distracted from turkey and TV by bargain-hunting on their smartphones and tablets, writes Guardian retail reporter Sarah Butler.

As an increasing number of retailers begin their end of year sales online on Christmas Eve, shoppers are expected to spend 25% more than last year on Christmas Day with most logging on at midday according to online retailing body imrg and research firm Experian.

Christmas Day shopping has become increasingly popular over the past few years with more than half of consumers expected to log on to at least browse, according to card provider Barclaycard.

Growth is being driven by a rise in the popularity of tablet computers, which make shopping from the sofa an attractive pastime, while the likes of Marks & Spencer, Boots and Currys all start their sales online on Christmas Eve and Amazon launches its post-Christmas discounts just after the Queen’s speech at 4pm.

Record numbers of French people are out of work. Alamy Photograph: Alamy

Unemployment in France has hit a record high, according to the latest official data published today.

The number of job seekers reached record levels in November, with 3.488m people claiming out-of-work benefits.

The figures showed a rise of 27,400 people on the jobless queue compared to the previous month, up 0.8% from October. Unemployment has risen 5.8% over the last year, despite promises by the government to get more people into work.

In an interview last month, François Hollande said he would not stand again for the French presidency in 2017 if he had not managed to cut unemployment.

BP will pay around $700-$800m to get a 20% stake in the Tass Yuriakh field in eastern Siberia, estimated to contain 1 bn barrels of reserves. So far, the two sides have only initialled a preliminary deal, but plan to seal the deal in 2015.

Some modest festive cheer for the UK economy, with labour productivity showing some welcome and much-needed improvement in the third quarter. Nevertheless, productivity currently remains limited compared to pre-crisis levels and there is still considerable uncertainty as to how much of this is due to structural factors. How much productivity improves going forward will be a critical factor in how soon and how far the Bank of England raises interest rates.

The extent to which the weakness in the UK’s productivity has been structural rather than cyclical has vital implications for the economy’s growth potential and for policy. If productivity fails to pick up appreciably over the coming quarters, it indicates that the economy has less potential to grow without generating inflationary pressures and that interest rates will likely need to rise at a faster rate than currently envisaged.

My emphasis

He identifies four factors about the recession and recovery that could do lasting damage to UK productivity.

Many of the new jobs that have been created are in less skilled, low paid sectors where productivity is limited.

Business investment declined sharply during the recession and the early stages of recovery. This may have significantly damaged UK productivity as a number of companies failed to invest to upgrade dated capacity or adapt latest technology and production techniques.

The prolonged crisis and problems in the finance sector may have led to impediments in the movement of capital and labour to their most productive uses.

The impact of “zombie” companies that have essentially been kept alive by low interest rates and banks’ reluctance to write off loans.

UK productivity edges up

Worker productivity increased by 0.6% in the third quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics. It was 0.3% higher than 2013, but 2% below where it was before the 2008 economic crash.

Here are the headlines from the ONS release:

Output per hour increased in all of the main industrial groupings in the third quarter, by 0.5% in the production industries and 0.6% in the service industries.

Unit labour costs increased across the whole economy by 0.5% in the third quarter, reflecting a sharp increase in labour costs per hour worked.

Productivity is above average in London and the south east, but well below average in Wales and Northern Ireland.